Subtitles section Play video
-
When Steve Jobs resigned as Apple's CEO in August 2011, he handpicked Tim Cook as his successor.
-
Cook had been with the company since 1998, and earned the reputation of being an operations mastermind,
-
dramatically reducing Apple's on-hand inventory and delivering products to customers faster using a technique called "just-in-time manufacturing".
-
But his greatest work has been performed over the past decade as CEO, when Apple's popularity and growth exploded in a way almost no one expected.
-
This has led many people to wonder about the man behind the machine⏤Tim Cook,
-
and what he does on a daily basis to stay at the top of his game.
-
So, in this video, we're gonna take a peek behind Apple's curtain, and find out what a day in the life of Tim Cook is really like.
-
This is Greg with Apple Explained, and this was the last place topic of the previous voting poll, which means I shouldn't even be making this video.
-
But I already started working on the script, so I'm just putting this out as a short bonus video for you guys.
-
Alright, now, let's start with Cook's morning routine.
-
He wakes up at 3:45 a.m., and spends about an hour going through some of the 700 to 800 emails he receives each day.
-
In an interview with Axios, he explained why, saying,
-
"I like to ... go through user comments and things like that, and sort of focus on the external people that are so important to us."
-
For breakfast, Cook typically enjoys two scrambled egg whites, turkey bacon, and sugar-free cereal with unsweetened almond milk.
-
Then, around 5 a.m., he goes to an undisclosed gym that's located outside Apple's headquarters⏤for maximum privacy⏤and works out for an hour.
-
In fact, Tim Cook is a self-described "fitness nut", claiming his regular exercise routine helps keep stress at bay,
-
which is probably important for someone in charge of running the most valuable company in the world.
-
Next, Cook visits a local Starbucks to read through more emails before heading to Apple Park.
-
Once he arrives at the office, his day is typically filled with meetings.
-
And despite his laid-back demeanor, Cook is known to have little patience for unprepared staffers.
-
In fact, workers who are scheduled to meet with Cook are first screened by their managers to make sure they're ready to answer all of his questions.
-
And Cook is known for asking quite a few.
-
Steve Doil, who used to work on Cook's operations team, said,
-
"He'll ask you 10 questions. If you answer them right, he'll ask you 10 more. If you do this for a year, he'll start asking you 9 questions. Get one wrong, and he'll ask you 20 and then 30."
-
One staffer who wasn't fully prepared was quickly dismissed by Cook, who simply said, "Next," as he flipped the page of his meeting agenda.
-
But I think the story that best illustrates Cook's expectation of excellence is during a meeting about Apple's poor performance in China.
-
Cook said, "This is really bad, someone should be in China driving this."
-
Thirty minutes into the meeting, he looked at Sabih Khan, an operations executive, and said, with no emotion, "Why are you still here?"
-
Khan immediately stood up, drove to San Francisco International Airport, and, without any luggage, booked a one-way ticket to China.
-
For lunch, Cook is known to stop by the company cafeteria and sit with random employees.
-
This allows him to hear from people in the company who might offer unique perspective outside the bubble of Apple's executive team.
-
Cook is also known to be the last person to leave the office, arriving home just in time to be in bed by 8:45.
-
That means he works about 12 hours a day while sleeping for 7.
-
So, while Tim Cook has been criticized for being a much different CEO than Steve Jobs, the two have a surprising amount of characteristics in common,
-
like working long hours, focusing on their health, holding their employees to the highest standard, and always maintaining a balanced perspective on Apple by staying in touch with their everyday customers.
-
So, that is a day in the life of Tim Cook.
-
If you'd like to help decide which topics I cover in the future, don't forget to subscribe, and I'll see you in the next video.
